What is SEM

Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a set of digital marketing strategies aimed at search engines. The objective is for the brand/product/service to appear in the top positions of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), whether from Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines, each with its own characteristics. Learn more about what SEM is in this article.

SEM x Sponsored Links x SEO

The SEM strategy is divided into two parts: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and sponsored links. Sponsored links are the well-known advertisements that appear on SERPs, where you only pay for clicking on it or for a number of views. The best known of all is Google Adwords, largely responsible for Google's growth around the world.

One of the characteristics of sponsored links is the possibility of achieving immediate results through SERP ads. On the other hand, it is a strategy that, at a certain point, becomes horizontal, exhausting the possibility of increasing traffic without increasing funds.

SEO encompasses the optimization techniques focused on organic searches. Let us understand clearly then that SEO and SEM are different things, with SEO being part of SEM work. So if you do SEM, you do SEO. But you can do SEO without doing SEM, as you can leave out the sponsored links part, for example.

SEO also has a subdivision, On-Page SEO, which is related to all the techniques applied on the page of your website and Off-page SEO, which are the techniques applied outside the page, that is, to bring links from outside from the website.

SEO work must be consistent and ongoing, and long-term. Unlike paid traffic, organic traffic can be expanded without traffic limitations.

Working SEM

It is very important then that the sponsored links strategy is aligned with SEO. These two strategies together will make your SEM strategy successful.

The first point is to set up a keyword strategy, which must be aligned with both the paid ads and the structure and content of your website. It is important to highlight that you must work on keywords long-tail and head-tail always thinking about the context of your business.

And see how everything relates in digital marketing. The website, in turn, has to be well programmed and well optimized, to bring results both in terms of SEO and in relation to the user experience.

Blogs and SEM

We cannot currently think about SEM strategy without content marketing. After all, what is SEM if not a work of content and keywords... And with the aim of highlighting the company in the SERPs with a focus on results.

Therefore, setting up a blog is essential for good SEO work and, consequently, for SEM work. Therefore, think about efficient strategies for your blog, aligned with the work carried out on your website and also with successful sponsored link campaigns.

Google is not unique

despite the Google has a market share of almost 97% in Brazil, you can include Bing and Yahoo in your SEM strategies. In the United States, for example, Bing has Audience 31% of web searches, although in Brazil this number is less than 1%. For those using Windows 10, for example, Bing is present in the operating system's native searches.

Both Bing and Yahoo can be good options, as they have low competition and cheaper average CPC. After all, everyone is on Google. And if we consider that both, together, have practically 3% of the market share, we will be talking about a universe of more than 4 million people.

Therefore, think about the matter when creating your SEM strategies. AND call an expert to address this issue!

Marcel Castilho

Marcel Castilho is a specialist in digital marketing, neuromarketing, neuroscience, mindfulness and positive psychology. In addition to being an advertiser, he also has a Master's degree in Neurolinguistic Programming. He is the founder and owner of Vero Comunicação and also the digital agency Vero Contents.